Influence of Anxiety on Gastric Digestion. 97 



Cycle. 



Theoretical 



Actual Systole 





Systole. 



Determined. 





•54 



.22 



.23 -.24 



Normal controls. 



.67 



•23 



.23 - 24 





•34 



.19 



.135-14 



Accelerators stimulated. Vagus intact. 



.50 



.215 



.I55-.I6 





.56 



.22 



.215— .22 



Vagi cut. 



.59 



.225 



.22 





•90 



•235 



.28 



Vagus stimulation. 



.98 



.238 



.275 





1.50 



.25 



•25 





.28 



•175 



•125-135 



Accelerator stimulation, vagi cut. 



•33 



.19 



.14 





.63 



.228 



.20 



Combined vagus and accelerator stimu- 



.80 



•235 



.20 



lation. 



•83 



•235 



.205 





•96 



.238 



.20 





1.08 



.24 



.20 





57 (1517) 



The influence of anxiety on gastric digestion. 



By Raymond J. Miller, Olaf Bergeim, and Philip B. Hawk. 



[From the Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Jefferson Medical 

 College, Philadelphia, Penna.] 



The study of the influence of emotional strain on digestion 

 in man offers some difficulties due to the fact that the emotions 

 cannot be readily controlled, nor are the subjects of extreme 

 emotion readily amenable to experimentation. We were, however, 

 able to obtain an interesting illustration of the profound effect 

 of mental anxiety on gastric digestion in the case of one of our 

 subjects. The man was a first-year medical student who had pre- 

 viously served as a subject of gastric tests. He was given one 

 hundred grams of fried chicken on the morning of an important 

 examination in chemistry, and was asked to write out his answers 

 during the course of the test. He was plainly worried over the 

 outcome of the examination and of his year's work. The resultant 

 effect upon gastric digestion in prolonging evacuation for over two 

 hours with high intra-gastric acidity is charted in the figure. The 



